This Week
No. 1 Arizona (51-4, 13-2 Pac-10) travels to the Bay Area to take on No. 4 California (47-10, 4-9 Pac-10) and No. 3 Stanford (44-9-1, 9-6 Pac-10). Last time Arizona faced Cal was on April 22 in a doubleheader at Hillenbrand Stadium. The Wildcats took both games, 2-1. Against Stanford, Lauren Bauer scored Arizona's 101th home run in the Cats 7-0 victory.

Last Time The Cats Played
Arizona extended its Pac-10 lead and home game winning streak (41) last weekend with wins over No. 9 Arizona State (5-0), No. 14 Oregon State (1-0, 7-1) and Oregon (8-0, 6-1). Arizona scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning against ASU, including a two-run homer by freshman Leneah Manuma. Junior Jennie Finch allowed four hits and stuck out six. Senior Toni Mascarenas' single scored senior Lauren Bauer in Arizona's only run in the first game of a doubleheader with Oregon State. In the second game, Manuma hit her 17th home run of the season in the win over OSU. Finch had her 16th shut out the season against Oregon on Saturday and her sixth-inning single game the Wildcats a mercy-ruled victory. Senior Becky Lemke became Arizona's career strikeout leader with 880 and only the fourth pitcher to win 100 game or more.

Cincuenta
Arizona won 50 games for the 11th time in school history and the 11th time in coach Mike Candrea's 16 seasons as head coach. Arizona's highest victories total was a then NCAA-record 67-4 mark in 1998. Candrea as has three other 60+ seasons - 66-6 in 1995, 64-3 in 1994 and 61-5 in 1997.

BecKKKKy LemKKKKe
Becky Lemke became Arizona's career strikeout leader on April 29 against Oregon. Lemke has 168 strikeouts on the season and 880 in her career. She passed Susie's Parra's figure of 874 from 1991 to 1994. She also became only the fourth pitcher to win 100 or more games. Her career record is 100-19 with a 1.12 career ERA.

Home Sweet Home
Arizona has a 41 home game winning streak dating back to a loss to Stanford on April 9, 2000. The Wildcats hold the longest home game winning streak at 45 games set by the 1997 and 1998 teams.

Pitching Fury
The Wildcat pitching staff of senior Becky Lemke, junior Jennie Finch, freshman Jenny Gladding and senior Teresa Demeter in 55 games have a combined ERA of 0.62 in 348 innings of play. They have struck out 499 batters, and an average of 10 strikeouts a game. Lemke has 168 strikeouts, Finch has 201 and Gladding has 129. The Cats have 34 shutouts and have only allowed 154 hits compared to Arizona's 516 hits. Finch is 22-0 with a 0.24 ERA, Lemke is 16-2 with a 0.91 ERA and Gladding is 12-2 with a 0.89 ERA. Arizona's ERA is the lowest in the nation.

Bangin' Them Silly
In 55 games, Arizona has 104 home runs on the season, the NCAA team single-season record. Arizona now holds the top three spot in NCAA history- the 1995 club hit 100 and the 1993 team hit 93. Manuma (17), Mascarenas (16), and Vandergeest (16) lead the way, with every other usual starter hitting at least one... The Cats are averaging 2.02 homers a game... The all-time collegiate record is 1.39 for a season by the Arizona teams in 1994 and 1995. Those teams had a couple of sluggers who outpaced the rest of the club ?? Laura Espinoza, Jenny Dalton, Leticia Pineda, Leah Braatz. In 1998, for example Braatz (25) and Pineda (20) led, but the next highest totals were seven homers by Mascarenas and Nancy Evans. This year's team is spreading the wealth a bit more...The Cats hit 6 home runs against Bowling Green, which is tied for the No. 2 spot in NCAA history. 28 times Arizona has had multiple homers in a game, 6 times they have hit 5 or more and one time more than 5.

Leaders of the Pac
Arizona leads the Pac-10 Conference in a number of categories including team batting average (.349), Slugging percentage (.621), on base percentage (.431) and runs scored (406). Senior Lauren Bauer is first in the conference in batting average (.447), runs scored (69) and hits (85). On the mound, Arizona's team ERA is lowest (0.62), as well as opposing batting average (.130). Finch has the lowest ERA (0.24), as well as opposing batting average (.105). On defensive, the Cats have the highest fielding percentage (.980) in the conference. A complete listing of conference stats is available at www.pac-10.org.

Going for the Gold
Nine Wildcats were selected to participate in the USA Softball Women's National Team Camp last Thursday (April 12). USA Softball will select two 16-player teams to represent the U.S. in international competition. Six current Cats were selected including Lauren Bauer, Lindsey Collins, Jennie Finch, Nicole Giordano, Becky Lemke and Toni Mascarenas. Transfer Lovieanne Jung, assistant coach Nancy Evans and former assistant coach Amy Chellevold were also selected.. Mike Candrea was among the 12 coaches selected to participate at the camp and has a chance to coach one of the two U.S. National Teams. The head coach for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Softball Team will be chosen from the pool of coaches.

Pac-10 Player of the Week
Two Arizona players have been named Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Week. Leneah Manuma was named on March 2 where she had three home runs, six RBI and hit .600 in seven games. Jennie Finch was named pitcher of the week on April 9 after she struck out 15 and allowed only thre hit in 13 innings pitched.

Fun Facts
Arizona has 516 hits compared to its opponents' 154...The team is hitting .349 on the season with its opposition's .130... With 55 games under its belt, the Cats have 104 home runs a new NCAA record... It also has given Arizona a slugging percentage of .621, compared to the school?record mark of .608 by the '95 team.... Lauren Bauer leads the team in batting average (.447), hits (85) and runs scored (69), including 27 multiple hit games... Two Cats are hitting over .400 - Bauer (.447) and Mascarenas (.403)...Nicole Giordano is close behind hitting .399... Leneah Manuma is one home run away from tying the freshman home run record of 18 set by Leah Braatz in 1994... Mascarenas leads the team in multiple RBI games (17)... Jennie Finch has won 76 career games against 10 defeats and is No. 5 on Arizona's career chart. Her career total of 562 K's is No. 4 behind Parra, Lemke and Nancy Evans... Opponent batters are hitting .105 when Finch pitches, the lowest in the Pac-10... Each of Arizona's three starting pitchers is averaging more than 10 stikeouts per seven innings. Lemke is tops with an 10.1 mark, Gladding averages 10.3 strikeouts per seven innings and Finch has a 10 mark... The three have combined for 33 shutouts this year and Lemke combined with Teresa Demeter for a 34th shutout... Opposing batters are hitting .130 against Arizona... The team has played 16 five?inning mercy rule games and four six-inning run-rule games... Arizona has played five extra inning games... Lauren Bauer has stolen 36 bases in 41 attempts, No. 10 in Arizona history. Her career total of 131 is 17 short of the school record set by Allison McCutcheon (148) from 1995 to 1998 and puts Bauer No. 2 on that list... Arizona's team on-base percentage is .432, meaning every single player has been getting on base about half the time... The Cats' 29-0 victory over Bowling Green State on Feb. 16 is believed to be a school record for runs, as is the 17-run fourth inning UA put together... The Pepsi Softball Classic was one of the best opening weekend crowds in school history with a three-day average of 1562... Arizona has a 41-game home winning streak dating to a 4-3 lost to Stanford on April 9, 2000...The attendance for the Hillenbrand Invitational marks the second largest crowd in history with 2751 out to see Arizona play against No. 5 Oklahoma... The game against Arizona State on March 14 was the fifth largest crowd in Hillenbrand stadium history with 2623...

National Fastpitch Coaches Association Poll
Arizona is No. 1 in the USA Today/NFCA Division I coaches poll. UCLA is No. 2, Stanford is No. 3, No. 4 is California and LSU is at the five spot. Seven Pac-10 school are currently ranked in the top 25 with five in the top 10. Arizona has been in the national rankings every single period since 1990. Ranking are available at www.nfca.org.

Arizona Head Coach Mike Candrea
After 15 seasons at Arizona, Candrea carries a record of 854-172. His Division I winning percentage (.832) is No. 2 all-time and No. 1 among active coaches. On March 6, Candrea coached his 1000th game. Candrea was named Pac-10 Co-Coach of the Year in 2000, his sixth time. Last season, he won his 800th game, only the eighth NCAA softball coach in history to do so. His players have earned 54 All-America honors and six Academic All-America honors, plus he has coached three players to the Honda Softball Award as national player of the year. He has taken the Wildcats to the College World Series the past 13 years and reached the championship game in eight of the last 11 years.

The Wildcats Next Action
Arizona softball will play host to No. 1 UCLA on Friday, May 11at 7 p.m. and No. 13 Washington on Saturday, May 12 in a doubleheader beginning at 6 p.m. All games are played at Hilllenbrand Stadium.